Although we offer complete support for three DRM systems, sometimes customers need to use various parts of their own infrastructure/subsystems in addition to Azure Media Services to build a hybrid DRM subsystem.

Below are some common questions asked by customers:

"Can I use my own DRM license servers?" (In this case, customers have invested in DRM license server farm with embedded business logic).

"Can I use only your DRM license delivery in Azure Media Services without hosting content in AMS?"

Modularity of the AMS DRM platform

As part of a comprehensive cloud video platform, Azure Media Services DRM has a design with flexibility and modularity in mind. You can use Azure Media Services with any of the following different combinations described in the table below (an explanation of the notation used in the table follows).

Content hosting & origin

Content encryption

DRM license delivery

AMS

AMS

AMS

AMS

AMS

Third-party

AMS

Third-party

AMS

AMS

Third-party

Third-party

Third-party

Third-party

AMS

Content hosting & origin

AMS: video asset is hosted in AMS and streaming is through AMS streaming endpoints (but not necessarily dynamic packaging).

Third-party: video is hosted and delivered on a third-party streaming platform outside of AMS.

Content encryption

AMS: content encryption is performed dynamically/on-demand by AMS dynamic encryption.

Third-party: content encryption is performed outside of AMS using a pre-processing workflow.

Scenarios and samples

Based on the explanations in the previous section, the following five hybrid scenarios use respective Content key-Asset delivery policy configuration combinations (the samples mentioned in the last column follow the table):

Content hosting & origin

DRM encryption

DRM license delivery

Configure content key

Configure asset delivery policy

Sample

AMS

AMS

AMS

Yes

Yes

Sample 1

AMS

AMS

Third-party

Yes

Yes

Sample 2

AMS

Third-party

AMS

Yes

No

Sample 3

AMS

Third-party

Outside

No

No

Sample 4

Third-party

Third-party

AMS

Yes

No

In the samples, PlayReady protection works for both DASH and smooth streaming. The video URLs below are smooth streaming URLs. To get the corresponding DASH URLs, just append "(format=mpd-time-csf)". You could use the azure media test player to test in a browser. It allows you to configure which streaming protocol to use, under which tech. IE11 and MS Edge on Windows 10 support PlayReady through EME. For more information, see details about the test tool.